Description

CHESTER CITY (IM)

SJ4066SW WATERGATE STREET AND ROW
595-1/3/388 (South side)
10/01/72 No.23 Row (Lyon House)
(Formerly Listed as:
WATERGATE STREET
No 23 Street (Lyon House))

GV II

Town house, now offices, probably on the site of the former
detached kitchen behind No.17 Street (Leche House) (qv) to
which it is linked by a roofed passage. The present house late
C17 or early C18, altered. Brown brick in irregular bond;
double-depth grey slate roof.
EXTERIOR: 3 storeys, double-fronted. The east front has an
inserted 6-panel door and camber-arched doorcase under a
damaged stone lintel with carved rose and foliage; renewed
casement with 3 lights of 3 panes right of door to each of
lower 2 storeys and 24-pane horizontally sliding sash to third
storey; brick cambered arch to blocked opening left of door
and small inserted casement to second storey; tall central
staircase window of 44 panes has segmental-arched brick head,
cut into 3-course brick band at first floor level; the band at
second floor level is carried up over the window head. Left
end has 4-pane sashes; right end is plain, with small
projecting wing; gables are coped. Rear has 6-panel door in
panelled doorcase under flat, moulded, lead-dressed hood;
16-pane near-flush sash left of door; inserted casement right;
a casement of three 2-pane lights to each upper storey under
segmental brick arches. A cast-iron Gothick window to rear of
wing.
INTERIOR: square in plan, has 4 rooms to each storey, probably
originally with central passage; the north-west room of first
storey incorporates part of the passage and has panelled dado
and altered breast of former corner fireplace; rehung door to
north-east room, probably of oak, has 8 panels with
heart-shaped apertures in upper panels; north-east room has
good stop-chamfered oak beam parallel with front and door of 6
fielded panels to stair hall; softwood dogleg stair has
octagonal newel, 2 turned balusters per step and moulded
handrail; round-arched opening to stairwell from north-west
room; south east room has door with 6 margin panels and
stop-chamfered oak beam parallel with front; south-west room
has door of 6 fielded panels and panelled embrasures to sashes
in south wall; 2 carved panels under western window, each with
putto and swags. Rooms on second storey have replaced 4-panel

doors; the north-east and south-east rooms have an oak
stop-chamfered beam similar to those in rooms below, but
hidden by false ceiling in the south-east room which is now
kitchen and toilets. The third storey has no visible features
of interest.
Previously listed at Street level in error.
(Chester Rows Research Project: Brown AN & Grenville JC &
Turner RC: Watergate Street: Chester: 1988-: 29 (LECHE
HOUSE)).

Listing NGR: SJ4046966225

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26656993

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Maintaining and Repairing Old Houses: A Guide to Conservation, Sustainability and Economy
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Old House Handbook 2 Books Bundle Collection (Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair,Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability)
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Hertfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)